Variety of Strategies Needed To Foster Learning, N.A.S. Says

While students may learn better when learning is "situated" in
real-life contexts, they also need to spend time learning abstract
principles and basic concepts.

That conclusion comes from a report released last month by a
National Academy of Sciences panel. The group of 14 prominent
psychologists had hearings, made site visits, and sifted through
hundreds of studies on learning, memory, emotions, and social processes
in an effort to distill what is known about new techniques that claim
to enhance learning.

Their 396-page report, called "Learning, Remembering, and
Believing," is the third in an investigation that has lasted nearly
nine years.

The study was initiated in 1985 at the request of the Army Research
Institute, which had hoped to incorporate the panel's findings into
military training programs.

But panel members said their conclusions--some drawn from research
focusing primarily on schoolchildren--also apply to a variety of
learning situations.

Techniques Evaluated

The panel also concluded that:

Students frequently have the illusion that they know more than
they do;

Cooperative-learning techniques, when properly scripted and
structured, can enhance learning;

Interactive computer games and simulations can enhance students'
motivation to learn, but there is little evidence that they actually
increase learning;

Learners' self-confidence can be increased by emphasizing that
the skill being taught can be easily learned, giving students
opportunities to see people of different backgrounds mastering that
skill, and urging students to attribute their improvements to hard
work rather than to innate ability; and,

Despite claims to the contrary, hypnosis and transcendental
meditation do not improve learning.

Real-Life Learning

The panel's findings on the role of "situated" learning come from a
growing body of studies suggesting that students will better master a
skill if they are taught it in the context in which they might be
expected to use the skill. Some proponents of this approach argue that
all learning should take place in such contexts.

The panel members agreed that situated learning helps students
"transfer" more of what they have learned to real situations, but they
argued that some abstract concepts need to be taught directly.

"There are many domains in which fundamental skills are critical to
acquire before more specific training can be taught, such as learning
to catch a ball before playing any sport with a ball," the
psychologists wrote.

Moreover, added Robert A. Bjork, the panel's chairman, fixing the
training conditions too rigidly "runs the risk of creating inflexible
knowledge and skills." For example, students may only be able to recall
the skill they have learned when placed in the same situations.

On the matter of students' illusions about their own competencies,
the panel said students frequently have delusions of their own
competence because they confuse being familiar with a skill with
understanding it deeply and being able to use it in a variety of
situations.

"They can confuse the ability to follow a procedure when executed by
someone else with their own competence to perform that procedure," Mr.
Bjork said.

To combat that tendency, the psychologists said educators and
trainers should provide challenges for their students that give them
chances to realistically assess their own competencies.

The panel's endorsement of structured cooperative-learning
techniques was based mostly on studies involving schoolchildren. But
the group concluded that, over all, such techniques can be more
effective than individual learning.

But, the psychologists said, more research is needed to find out why
cooperative learning seems to work, under what conditions it works
best, and whether adults using the technique can make the same kinds of
learning gains.

The group was more skeptical about team-building approaches to
training, which are often used with adults in corporate and military
settings.

Such approaches can boost morale and team cohesion, the panelists
said, but they do not necessarily improve performance.

The panel is working on a fourth report in its investigations.

Single copies of the panel's current report can be obtained for
$39.95 each, plus $4 for shipping and handling, by writing: National
Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington,
D.C. 20055.

Ground Rules for Posting
We encourage lively debate, but please be respectful of others. Profanity and personal attacks are prohibited. By commenting, you are agreeing to abide by our user agreement.
All comments are public.